My Netflix

Discussion and reviews of the films I’ve gotten on Netflix. Suggestions always welcome.

I’ll start working backwards in time, but I’ll try to review each film as I see it.

Next on Queue: The Lives of Others

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Chasing Amy (1997)
My rating: 4.0/5.0

Chasing Amy, starring Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, and Joey Lauren Adams, is a fascinating film done by Kevin Smith. I felt it was obligatory to watch it, as it is a part of the esteemed “Jersey Trilogy” (also known as the “View Askewniverse“) and I’ve got a mysterious love/hate relationship with Central New Jersey. The film is very much in the same vein as other Kevin Smith films I’ve seen – a crude, irreverent, gross-out film based on inappropriate jokes and references to sex, alcohol, and drugs, while still maintaining a higher purpose.

While Clerks II, the only other Smith movie I’ve seen, is hilarious but simply about romance, Chasing Amy is a really intriguing storyline about fluid sexuality, one’s self-worth and self-esteem in relation to the experience of others, and the interplay between friends and relationships.

I watched the film expecting a really deep inquiry into relationships and emotion. It is, and it isn’t. The dialogue, though lacking in subtlety, is incredibly well-executed, and the plot, in which Alyssa (played by Joey Lauren Adams) re-evaluates her sexuality as she finds herself falling in love with male friend Holden seems somewhat implausible, but Smith made me believe. Perhaps the most famous scene comes from epic slacker “Silent Bob,” played by Smith, in a monologue well-know to those who have, and have not, seen the film.

SPOILER (KIND OF)

I enjoyed the film immensely, and will watch it again if given the opportunity.